Bob Dylan and Daniel Lanois Hit All the Right Notes on Oh Mercy: 1989 Album
Mesmerizes with Brilliant Songwriting, Inspired Performances, Atmospheric Feel,
and Visionary Production

180g 45RPM Vinyl 2LP Features Cinematic Sound and Vast Spaciousness

As soon as it was issued, Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy was rightly regarded as a
striking return to form. The 1989 set also won acclaim for the singer's decision
to pair with visionary producer Daniel Lanois, whose sonic guidance draws vivid
colors, hues, and warmth from the songs – all the while adding significant
ambience, effect, and context. Removed from the circumstances of its original
release, Oh Mercy has managed to both justify and transcend such praise. As time
wears on, the record only gets better, with its razor-sharp songwriting and
atmospheric soundscapes escalating to legendary proportions via Mobile
Fidelity's definitive analog reissue.

Mastered on Mobile Fidelity's world-renowned mastering system, pressed at RTI,
and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Oh Mercy now takes on cinematic
qualities worthy of Lanois' production and Dylan's performances on 180g 45RPM
2LP. Available for the first time on audiophile vinyl, and at 45RPM speed, no
less, the music benefits from a spaciousness, tonality, and surrealism no prior
edition delivers. The extra groove space, too, seemingly gives each note its own
physical dimension, whereby the Oh Mercy simultaneously immerses and surrounds
you. Its clarity, dynamics, and extension also reach new heights throughout –
whether it's the low-end reach on the spiritual-minded "Ring Them Bells" or
combination of guitar-chord treble and piano decay on "Disease of Conceit."

Achieving a cohesiveness and richness absent from Dylan's other '80s efforts, Oh
Mercy further stands out for its on-the-floor immediacy and nuanced treatments.
Gone are the slick, processed, "shoulder pad" synthetic backdrops Dylan employed
on the preceding Empire Burlesque. Borrowing from approaches he used on U2's The
Joshua Tree, Lanois serves rather than obscures Dylan's intent – enhancing the
topicality of barbed fare like "Political World" and further charging the
self-doubting emotions of quizzical compositions such as "What Good Am I?"

For all of Lanois' magic, it's impossible to overlook the brilliance of Dylan's
lyrics – or timbre and commitment of his singing. Many tracks on Oh Mercy have
become live staples and fan favorites, and for very good reason. The swampy,
percussive-augmented "Everything Is Broken" finds Dylan at his most forthright
and descriptive, with the metaphorical and direct account of estrangement, loss,
and chaos applicable to any number of eras, situations, or regimes. Mystery,
voodoo, and portent fill "Man in the Long Black Coat," appointed by Lanois with
aptly spooky devices and designed by its architect to "make an attack on your
most vulnerable spots."

Indeed, vulnerability peppers the second half of Oh Mercy, whether on the
unrequited bite of "What Was It You Wanted" or the gentle, heartbreaking
look-back ballad "Shooting Star." By extension, Dylan strips himself of any
defense mechanisms on the romantic albeit somber "Most of the Time," which rates
among the icon's moving creations and captures the memory-haunting aftermath of
a dissolved relationship with a frankness, transparency, and self-knowingness
few artists would dare commit to tape.

Conversations about how Oh Mercy compares to Dylan's classic 1960s output
continue to this day and, if anything, have become deeper and more involved due
to the record's still-growing strengths. That several outtakes – "Series of
Dreams," "Dignity," and "Born in Time" among them – landed on subsequent Dylan
records and are beloved by fans speak to Oh Mercy's lingering magnetism and
power.

Selections:
1. Political World
2. Where Teardrops Fall
3. Everything Is Broken
4. Ring Them Bells
5. Man In the Long Black Coat
6. Most of The Time
7. What Good Am I?
8. Disease of Conceit
9. What Was It You Wanted
10. Shooting Star